I am by no means daddy’s little princess — but I can assure you that my dad would love to come out to see me for Dad’s Weekend.

However, many students do not realize that for some, seeing family members is not so simple. You see, my family lives in Delaware.

Making the decision to move across the country for college was hard, primarily because I knew it would be difficult to see my family.

For many students here at WSU, Dad’s Weekend is something to look forward to. But for some students, like me, this weekend is simply a painful reminder that no family member is capable of visiting.

Many obstacles lie in the way for out-of-state students when it comes to seeing family.

For some, it can be extremely difficult to come up with the money since plane tickets are so expensive.

Out of curiosity, I researched how much it would cost my dad to fly out for Dad’s Weekend.

The cheapest price I was able to find on Expedia was a whopping $1,068.20 for a round trip flying out of Philadelphia International Airport and into Pullman Moscow Regional.

This $1,000 price tag on coming to see me for Dad’s Weekend is the cost prior to adding on many other likely expenses, such as a rental car, checking luggage, dining out, a hotel room, tickets to the football game (which WSU conveniently schedules for the very same weekend), as well as many more.

For most families, spending this amount of money to come see their child for a weekend simply isn’t feasible.

Many out-of-state students face these same circumstances, especially the ones who come from far away.

Out-of-state students comprise only 12 percent of WSU’s population; for this reason, I feel as though we are often forgotten and our struggles are usually not considered.

Out-of-state students are not the only ones who struggle when it comes to seeing family — international students face the same obstacles that many out-of-state students face.

Sometimes students from other countries face even more difficulty when it comes to seeing family — such as more expensive plane tickets as well as language or cultural barriers.

To demonstrate, I researched the cost of plane tickets by picking a handful of cities from various countries and found the following prices for one person to fly roundtrip to Pullman: Shanghai, China ($2,315); Tokyo, Japan ($2,561); Sydney, Australia ($2,094); Rio De Janerio, Brazil ($4,697).

Clearly, making a trip out to Pullman would not be an easy task for families of both out-of-state and international students.

I am by no means suggesting that WSU should shut down Dad’s Weekend because I feel as though it is unfair to students who don’t live nearby — in fact, I do not feel this way at all.

Instead, I am writing this to ask that if you are a parent who is coming out for Dad’s Weekend or a student who has a family member coming out, I ask that you find a friend or roommate whose family is unable to visit and ask them to go out to dinner, to go to the football game or to go do some other activity with them.

Don’t isolate the students whose parents couldn’t make it out for Dad’s Weekend — bring them along and have them join in on the fun.

Remember, we are all part of the Cougar Family.

Emily Hogan is a freshman genetics and cell biology major from Harrington, Delaware. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.